Lincoln Parish Journal co-publishers Malcolm Butler and Kyle Roberts sat down with Dr. Les Guice hours after his announcement to faculty and staff of Louisiana Tech University Tuesday morning with news of his retirement at the end of the 2023 calendar year.
Q: What makes the timing of your retirement announcement right for you, personally?
Dr. Guice: “You know, it’s been 45 years total at Louisiana Tech. My family expects me to retire sometime (laughs). Look, I love everyday at work. It’s not easy, and we’ve certainly gone through a lot of challenging times over the past four years. But I love it here. I love being around the people; I don’t feel like it’s work in that way. And to do something where you have a team that’s really making a difference. But I know it’s time to turn it over to somebody else.”
Q: One of your strengths as president has been your relationship with the student body– what has that meant to you?
Dr. Guice: “That’s why we’re here. Ever since I’ve been a young faculty member or faculty adviser for student organizations, I’ve wanted to show students how they can be successful in different kinds of things professionally; not just what there doing inside their classrooms. That’s always been important to me. And getting to know, even as I’ve moved into roles where I was less directly involved with students, I’ve always stayed connected to the student body.
“I think back to Jack Painter; people like him that influenced me as a young faculty member. Once I was his student; later I became his colleague, and then I became his boss. But he was always my mentor and someone I learned from.”
Q: What are some of your proudest accomplishments during the last ten years?
Dr. Guice: “I think what we’ve done in terms of partnerships and focusing, not just on work force, but also focusing on economic prosperity for our region. And really taking more of a view of not just what is good for the university, but how can this university be good for our region and our state and our nation. We’ve got two buildings on this campus that are fully committed with companies that want to be here. Being able to put that together and serve as a model for our region. I’m glad I had a long enough runway to see some of that become a reality.”
Q: So the email goes out this morning around 8 a.m. Internally and emotionally, how has today been?
Dr. Guice: “I actually woke up at about 2 a.m. I usually get up early and go walking. I knew it would go out this morning; but I really wasn’t expecting the response I have received today. And so many responses came through that it kind of threw me off. I had something planned for today (laughs). I got calls from Baton Rouge, New Orleans; all over.”
Q: What kind of input do you foresee having regarding your successor?
Dr. Guice: “I will stay out of the way of that. Somebody will bring some new things to the table and maybe do away with somethings that we’ve already got started. And I understand that’s part of it. But I do hope they are able to leverage some of the things that we’re doing that have regional and national scale impacts and create greater opportunities for our state.”
Q: You’ve kind of touched on it a couple of times, so what are your post-retirement plans?
Dr. Guice: (Laughs). “I haven’t even thought about it, quite honestly. I’m running to the end zone. We’re going to focus on that. And I’ve got some children that I haven’t spent much time with, so we’re trying to find ways to get out and connect with them.”
Q: Is it hard to believe that it’s been 10 years?
Dr. Guice: “Yeah, it really is. I look back at some of my original remarks that I made to faculty and others who were here. I’ve been thinking some about what the 10 years meant. But we had a significant disruption or two. The tornado, COVID-19. Other impacts that set us back. We’ve worked through that, and I think we’re stronger than we’ve ever been. I sense a stronger engagement from our students, among themselves and with us.”
Q: This has been an incredibly challenging span in Louisiana Tech history when you think about COVID and state budgets and all of these different things.
Dr. Guice: “And social injustice issues that is good that have come to the forefront; but these things have created a challenging time for us to keep things moving forward. But I feel like the university is in a much better place.”
Q: What do you hope your legacy is at Louisiana Tech?
Dr. Guice: “I don’t know; I think I’m going to use this remark at the Champions Plaza event: You can come from Tickfaw or Summerfield or Bastrop and come to Louisiana Tech, get an education and go do anything. I was the last person in that freshman class that came in 1972 that would have ever been likely to be president at a university, much less Louisiana Tech University. I think giving more people the opportunity to go do great things will be the legacy. Thinking about those values that are central to Louisiana Tech, and I think that’s why we’re attractive as a school.”
